Texas Government

Cornyn Responds to Senate Democrats’ Threats to Push U.S. Over Fiscal Cliff

‘It simply amazes and discourages me that some people are willing to play chicken with our economy and our national security in such a cavalier, calculated sort of way.’

U.S. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), a member of the Senate Finance Committee, responded to today’s plan by Senate Democrat leaders to send our economy over the “fiscal cliff” if Republicans refuse to join them in in their proposal to raise taxes on small businesses:The following are excerpts from Sen. Cornyn’s floor speech, which can be viewed here.“[D]emocratic leaders like our colleague from Washington state are apparently ready to stand by and allow truly draconian across-the-board defense cuts, even though the President’s own Secretary of Defense has said these cuts would ‘hollow out’ our military and be ‘catastrophic’ to our national security. “It simply amazes and discourages me that some people are willing to play chicken with our economy and our national security in such a cavalier, calculated sort of way.“I would like to ask our President and my Democratic colleagues a few simple questions: - “Are you really willing to allow the largest tax increase in American history? - “Are you really willing to do what Secretary Panetta said, which is ‘hollow out’ the United States military?“Nobody has said that leadership is easy, but right now on issues of extraordinary importance to our economy and our national security, leadership is what the American people need and leadership is what they deserve. But so far that leadership is AWOL. “And when my colleague from Washington makes rash statements, threatening our country with a recession unless this side of the aisle agrees to tax increases that will fall disproportionately on the job creators in this country – that is not the kind of cool deliberation, or common-sense coming together we need when it comes to solving our nation’s biggest economic problems.”Senator Cornyn serves on the Finance, Judiciary, Armed Services and Budget Committees. He serves as the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee’s Immigration, Refugees and Border Security subcommittee. He served previously as Texas Attorney General, Texas Supreme Court Justice, and Bexar County District Judge.